X-Nico

99 unusual facts about Western Australia


13 Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers

The unit's first major operation was constructing a suspension bridge over the Helena River at Guildford in Western Australia.

A. O. Neville

Neville was a notable resident of Darlington and was a regular user of the Eastern Railway which closed a few months before his death.

Adam Said Galore

Adam Said Galore were formed in 1994, by Michael Lake on guitar, Matt Maguire on drums, Andrew Ryan on guitar and lead vocals, and Simon Struthers on bass guitar, in the Perth suburb of Greenwood.

Adelaide Lead, Victoria

However discovery of gold in Western Australia later in the nineteenth century saw some of these miners move west.

Ajahn Brahm

Currently Brahm is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, in Serpentine, Western Australia, the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of Victoria, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of South Australia, Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore, Patron of the Brahm centre in Singapore, and Spiritual Patron of the Bodhikusuma Centre in Sydney.

Albert Edwin Lynch

He returned to Western Australia where he was appointed curate of Palmyra in October 1935.

Alfred Carson

Carson was born at Upper Swan in Western Australia to wheelwright George Carson and Charlotte, née Hadley.

Arthur Bagot

Returning to Australia, he took up a mixed farming property near Piawaning, Western Australia, during 1925.

Arthur Baker-Clack

He was a journalist the The Register before moving to the Perth Morning Herald covering the Western Australian goldfields.

Australia Wide

Australia Wide stemmed from ABC Local Radio's Radio Pictures program, in which local radio presenters from rural Western Australia were given video equipment and training to produce local stories.

Bandyup Women's Prison

Bandyup Women's Prison is located in the northeastern rural Perth suburb of West Swan, Western Australia.

Beau Waters

A week after he had recovered from the injury, he was hit by a taxi he was trying to flag down after a night out in Subiaco.

Bellevue railway station, Perth

At the time of World War I - the station had a short branch line to the Helena Vale railway station at the Helena Vale Racecourse where troops alighted to march across to the Blackboy Hill army camp where they were stationed before they were taken to Fremantle where their ship traveled to the theatres of war.

Ben Folds and WASO Live in Perth

Filmed over two nights on March 12 & 13, 2005 at Kings Park and Botanical Gardens in Perth, Australia - a venue Folds jokingly refers to as a "luminous green petri dish" - the DVD offers 14 songs from the three major Ben Folds Five albums and Folds' debut solo album Rockin' the Suburbs.

Black Swan

In the south west the range ecompasses an area between North West Cape, Cape Leeuwin and Eucla; while in the east it covers are large region bounded by the Atherton Tableland, the Eyre Peninsula and Tasmania, with the Murray Darling Basin supporting very large populations of Black Swans.

Black-stripe minnow

The black-stripe minnow is found in the South West region of Western Australia between the towns of Augusta and Albany, and from three separate populations near Bunbury, at Melaleuca Park just north of Perth, and at Lake Chandala north of Muchea.

Boating Western Australia

In 2007 they employed the first staff member and opened a "shop front" office in South Fremantle, Western Australia (1 Capo D'Orlando Drive).

Brothers Rugby Club Sydney

Brothers are affiliated to the 5 Brothers clubs in Queensland including Brothers Old Boys, Brisbane and also Brothers Joondalup in Western Australia.

Building Revival Campaign

These became two of the first houses built in the new suburb of Floreat Park (now Floreat).

Capo d'Orlando

Capo d'Orlando has a twin city relationship with the City of Fremantle in Western Australia, established due to the cultural and historical links between the cities, and to maintain family associations, trade and tourism.

Charles A. Lockwood

Lockwood also acted as Commander Allied Naval Forces, Western Australia, until July 1942, overseeing the major bases at Fremantle and Exmouth (Codename "Potshot"), amongst others.

Charles Samuel Brockman

Born in 1845 at Guildford, Western Australia, Charles was the son of Robert James Brockman, one of the earliest pioneers in Western Australia, arriving in 1830.

Chris Herd

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Herd signed for Aston Villa from Australian club Bayswater City SC in February 2005, along with fellow Australian Shane Lowry, initially in a deal that was made up of a two-year Youth Training Scheme followed by him signing a one-year professional contract with the club.

Chris Mainwaring

Mainwaring's memorial service was held on 8 October 2007 at Christ Church Grammar School, Claremont.

Christian school

The Free Reformed Church started the John Calvin School at Armadale, Western Australia which opened its doors on 2 December 1957 with 70 students.

Computer Troubleshooters

From 2006 to 2008 it was owned by Quotz Pty Ltd with offices located in Northbridge, Sydney.

Constable Care

Based in Maylands WA, they travel the state visiting over 500 schools a year including remote indigenous community schools.

Cougars in Western Australia

That year, the Agricultural Protection Board of Western Australia declared that a two-year investigation had failed to find any evidence to suggest that cougars had ever been introduced into south-west Western Australia.

Cripps Pink

PLFOG99 (known as Pink Belle) was discovered in late 1999/early 2000 in Kirup, Western Australia and is a chance limb mutation/sport of Cripps Pink.

Dajarra, Queensland

Cattle drovers on horseback would bring cattle from as far away as Western Australia to put them on the train at Dajarra.

Darkzone

Perth, Western Australia has three stores, a store in Willetton called Darkzone, a store in Northbridge called Zone 3 and a store in Malaga called Darkzone.

Dilute budgerigar mutation

In 1896, George Keartland of the Calvert Expedition to the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, observed a yellow budgerigar flying wild in a flock on three occasions.

Emergency airworthiness directive

On October 7 2008, Qantas Flight 72, a scheduled flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Perth Airport, made an emergency landing at Learmonth airport near the town of Exmouth, Western Australia following a pair of sudden uncommanded pitch-down manoeuvres that resulted in serious injuries to many of the occupants.

Extra Virginity

Mueller's overview of the modern olive oil industry includes a visit to a Bertolli plant in Inveruno; family growers in Puglia, Cyprus, and California; and the monastery of New Norcia, Western Australia, founded by Spanish monks, which also produces olive oil.

Fairbridge

Fairbridge, a locality in the Australian state of Western Australia

Fairbridge, Western Australia

Fairbridge, Western Australia is a locality and former farm school near Pinjarra in south west Western Australia.

Frederick Irwin

In 1948 the Irwin Army Barracks in Karrakatta were named after him, in recognition of his place in Western Australia's military history.

Geoffrey Bolton

Geoffrey Curgenven Bolton AO is an Australian historian born on 5 November 1931 in North Perth (today known as Northbridge), Western Australia.

George Temple-Poole

Kings Park founding of the Board and initial designs for Perth Park's landscaping and layout.

Gert Sellheim

Sellheim was born in Estonia to German parents and studied architecture at universities in Germany before migrating to Western Australia in 1926.

Gina Rinehart

As a teenager Rinehart met Englishman Greg Milton, while both were working in Wittenoom.

Godfrey Blow

More recently the emphasis has been on his art, as his work has increasingly become a featured part of private and public collections in Australia, including Artbank, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, University of Western Australia and the collections of the cities of Bunbury, Albany and Fremantle.

Goin' Your Way

In April 2011 Neil Finn and Kelly co-headlined a show at Red Hill Auditorium in Perth; it was the first music concert at the new venue.

Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

Mephan Ferguson was awarded the first manufacturing contract and built a fabrication plant at Falkirk (now known as the Perth suburb of Maylands) to produce half of the 60,000 pipes required.

Great Central Road

There are fuel supplies at the following locations along the route (distances east from Laverton): Cosmo Newbery, (85 km), Tjukayirla Roadhouse (300 km), Warburton (560 km), Warakurna Roadhouse (786 km), Docker River (890 km) and finally Yulara (1126 km).

Greenbushes, Western Australia

Greenbushes is a timber and mining town located in the South West region of Western Australia.

Headingly Station

In 1953 the property was owned by the Peel River Land and mineral Company which took 200 bulls and transferred them by road train to Auvergne Station in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Heavy Weight Champ

Beginning with the few post "Grey Filters" tracks that had been written, the band proceeded to work on album material at an upstairs studio in the central Perth suburb of Subiaco.

HMAS Vigilant

After the war, the ship was returned to the Department of Trade and Customs as PV Vigilant, and served as a whaling patrol ship off Western Australia until 1965.

Hughesdale, Victoria

Sacred Heart Girls' College was opened in 1957 by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, who came from the convent in Highgate, Perth, Western Australia.

Jack Kilfoyle

Kilfoyle died of emphysema and bronchitis on 26 May 1962 in Perth and was buried in a cemetery in Karrakatta, Western Australia.

Jammer keyboard

It was coined by Jim Plamondon, founder of Thumtronics, and first used when the "Thummer(tm)-brand jammer" was publicly announced on December 15, 2005, in Perth, Western Australia.

Jean-Pierre, Count of Montalivet

Montalivet Street in Paris, a Montalivet Square in Valence, Montalivet Avenue in Caen, Comte de Montalivet Street in Sarreguemines and the Montalivet Islands in Western Australia, are all named after him.

John Adshead

Following his retirement as a player, Adshead instantly got into coaching and upon his arrival in Western Australia in 1970 he coached for six years in the Western Australian State League.

John Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth

To commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937 Lord Kenilworth also made a gift of £100,000 to Fairbridge Farm Schools, a charity to offer opportunities and education abroad to young people from broken homes.

José Guillermo Hay

Hay founded the Gould League of Bird Protection in Western Australia in about 1906 and was a natural environment campaigner, lobbying for the creation of Western Australia’s first flora and fauna reserve at North Dandalup in 1910.

Joseph Leonard Burley

His collection of early football photographs are housed in the J S Battye Library in Western Australia.

Joseph Nunan

He also built a convent in Perth for the Sisters of Mercy, and a store and house for Walter Padbury near his flour mill in Guildford.

Juror's oath

In Western Australia each jury has a choice to either "swear by Almighty God" or "solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm" to "give a true verdict according to the evidence upon the issue(s) to be tried by me."

Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System

The system was invented and developed by Kinetic Pty Ltd, a small R&D company based in Dunsborough, Western Australia.

Leederville Oval

Leederville Oval (known as Medibank Stadium under a naming rights agreement) is an Australian rules football ground located in Leederville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

Leopard whipray

Apparently widespread in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, the leopard whipray has been reported from off KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, eastern India and Sri Lanka, throughout Southeast Asia including the Philippines, southern Japan and Taiwan, New Guinea, and northern Australia from Coral Bay to the Cape York Peninsula.

Lilian Wooster Greaves

Her family moved to Western Australia in 1904, and at different stages lived in Wongan Hills, Mundaring, Cottesloe, and Leederville during the first world war.

Louis Kahan

After travelling across the United States he moved to Perth, Western Australia to join his family, who had emigrated to Australia before the war.

Martin Copley

In 1991 he purchased a property containing a large area of natural bushland at Chidlow, Western Australia, now the Karakamia Sanctuary, for conservation purposes, effectively founding what was to become the AWC.

Milton Hook

During 1958 and 1959 he was a trainee schoolteacher at Manjimup and Victoria Park before proceeding to Avondale College, New South Wales, where he completed the Elementary Teachers Certificate (1961) and a Bachelor of Arts (1964).

Mix 94.5

In March 2007 Mix 94.5 and sister station 92.9 moved from premises at 283 Rokeby Road, Subiaco, Western Australia to a new purpose built broadcast centre at 450 Roberts Road, Subiaco.

Moondyne Joe

He then found work on a farm in Kelmscott, but in January 1865 a neighbour's steer was killed and eaten, and Johns was accused of having done the deed.

Mucky Duck Bush Band

The band was founded by Stan Hastings, who ran the folk club The Stables in Northbridge, and his son Greg Hastings.

Muellerolimon

Most specimens collections have been near the coast between Geraldton and Broome, but there have also been collections from the west coast south of Perth, the south coast in the vicinity of Esperance, and as far inland as Wiluna.

Napa Declaration on Place

The list of signatories to the agreement expanded in March 2007 when Sonoma County, Paso Robles, Chianti Classico, Tokay, Victoria, Australia and Western Australia signed the Declaration at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

Nathan Burgers

He trained with the team from 18 January to mid-March in Perth, Western Australia.

No. 396 Expeditionary Combat Support Wing RAAF

Part of the Combat Support Group, it is responsible for the provision of combat and base support services and maintains the RAAF's "bare bases" at Weipa, Exmouth and Derby in the northern part of Australia's airspace.

Petalura hesperia

They reside near the Southwest Coast of Australia, often observed near drainage basins.

Pilbara Regiment

It is responsible for an area of 1.3 million square kilometres from Port Hedland to Carnarvon in Western Australia, and from the coast to the border with the Northern Territory; being approximately one-sixth of the total Australia mass.

PowerTel

In 2002, PowerTel secured fifteen-year access agreements for fibre-optic network capacity, linking their Eastern State network to South Australia and Western Australia.

Preston Point

It is located in the Perth suburb of East Fremantle, about 12 km south west of the city centre.

Pyroxenite

A type locality is the Gullewa Greenstone Belt, in the Murchison region of Western Australia, and the Duketon Belt near Laverton, where pyroxene spinifex lavas are closely associated with gold deposits.

Regional Force Surveillance Units

In the late 1970s the Australian Special Air Service Regiment conducted a number of exercises in northern Western Australia which aimed to assess the ability of unconventional units to patrol the long and sparsely populated coastline of northern Australia.

Ringer Edwards

Edwards later returned to Western Australia and settled at Gingin, where he died in 2000.

Robert Menli Lyon

In June 1833, a meeting was called at Guildford in response to continued calls for punitive action against the Aborigines.

Rupert Byron, 11th Baron Byron

He married Pauline Augusta Cornwall, daughter of T. J. Cornwall of Wagin, Western Australia, in 1931, and they had one daughter, the Hon.

Byron was the elder son of Colonel Wilfrid Byron, of Perth, Western Australia, and of Sylvia Mary Byron née Moore, of Winchester, England, the only daughter of the Reverend C. T. Moore.

Southern Scrub Robin

It is endemic to Australia, where it occurs in mallee and heathland in the semi-arid southern parts of the continent, extending from the Little Desert in the east though South Australia to the west coast between Kalbarri and the Pinnacles.

The Manikins

The band had several residencies in Perth, in particular Wednesday nights at the Broadway Tavern in Nedlands and the nightclub Hernando's Hideaway.

The Vines

The Vines, Western Australia, a golf course and residential estate in Western Australia

Tickalara

Following a drought in Western Australia and South Australia in 1914, Kidman offered farmers agistment for their horses at Tickalara for 500 head until conditions improved.

Timeline of the 2007–08 Australian region cyclone season

:2100 UTC – The Joint Typhoon Warning Center designates the Tropical Low previously located to the northeast of Wyndham as Tropical Cyclone 10S and issues its first advisory.

Timeline of the 2008–09 Australian region cyclone season

:1800 UTC (0300 WDT, 20 December) – Cyclone Billy makes landfall near too Wyndham.

Tully Bevilaqua

Tully Louise Bevilaqua (née Crook on 19 July 1972 in Merredin, Western Australia) is an Australian professional women's basketball player.

Vincent Serventy

Born in Armadale, Western Australia, the youngest of eight children of migrant Croatian parents, he graduated from the University of Western Australia in geology and psychology.

WAGR Z class

In November 1953 three diesel-hydraulic locomotives commenced operating at Albany, Bunbury and Esperance yards.

West Australian

West Australian is an adjective commonly referring to people or things from the Australian state of Western Australia.

Western Lewin's Rail

The rail had a restricted distribution in the far south-west of Western Australia, from Margaret River to Albany, and inland as far as Bridgetown.

Western Rufous Bristlebird

The bristlebird was discovered on 12 October 1901 at Ellensbrook, some 10 km north-west of Margaret River, by Alexander William Milligan.

Western swamp turtle

The western swamp turtle has been recorded only in scattered areas on the Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia, from Perth Airport to near Pearce Royal Australian Air Force Base in the Bullsbrook locality.

William Locke Brockman

In the informal election of May 1867, he was elected for Guildford, and was accordingly nominated to the council.

William Porteous

In December 2009 he sold a property in Mosman Park, Western Australia for A$57.5 million, setting a record for the most expensive house ever sold in Australia.

Yasukichi Murakami

The area at the time was impoverished so his parents sent him with a relative in 1897 to Western Australia where they believed he would make his fortune in gold.


1983 America's Cup

Prime Minister Bob Hawke was interviewed at the dawn celebration in Claremont, Western Australia, and said, "Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum".

Adam Voges

From Perth, Western Australia, Voges excelled at cricket from an early age, attending the Western Australian Institute of Sport and playing both Test and ODI matches for the Australian under-19 cricket team.

Alex George

Born in East Fremantle, Western Australia on 4 April 1939, he joined the Western Australian Herbarium as a laboratory assistant at the age of twenty in 1959.

Amphibolis antarctica

The species is generally reported as occurring from Exmouth Gulf on the north-west coast of Western Australia, south along the west coast and east along the south coast as far as Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.

Andrew Vlahov

While still on the playing roster with the Wildcats, Vlahov teamed up with ex-NBA player and fellow Western Australian Luc Longley to purchase the Wildcats franchise from owner Kerry Stokes.

Anthony O'Grady Lefroy

Anthony O'Grady Lefroy CMG (14 March 1816–21 January 1897), often known as O'Grady Lefroy, was an important government official in Western Australia before the advent of responsible government.

Archibald Geikie

Dorsa Geikie, a wrinkle ridge system on the Moon, and the mineral geikielite, a magnesium-titanium oxide, are both named after him, as is Geikie Gorge in the Napier Range in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

Australian angelshark

The Australian angelshark (Squatina australis) is a species of angel shark, family Squatinidae, found in the subtropical waters of southern Australia from Western Australia to New South Wales between latitudes 18°S and 41°S, at depths down to 255 m (840 ft).

Bentham's taxonomic arrangement of Adenanthos

The first known botanical collection of Adenanthos was made by Archibald Menzies during the September 1791 visit of the Vancouver Expedition to King George Sound on the south coast of Western Australia.

Cooperative Wheat Pool of Western Australia

Cooperative Wheat Pool of Western Australia, commonly known as the Wheat Pool of Western Australia, is a cooperative of wheat growers in Western Australia.

Enid Lyons

At the same election, Dorothy Tangney (later Dame Dorothy) was elected as a Labor Senator for Western Australia, the nation's first woman Senator.

Eremophila alternifolia

alternifolia occurs in arid areas of Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and the Barrier Range in New South Wales, in many different habitats with stony or red soil.

Gametraders

As of May 2013, there are 17 Gametraders stores across Australia in all states except the Northern Territory, Tasmania, and Western Australia.

General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River

It discusses the vegetation of the Swan River Colony (in what is now Western Australia), and comments on its affinities with other regions.

Geoglyph

Other areas with geoglyphs include Megaliths in the Urals, South Australia (Marree Man, which is not ancient, rather a modern work of art, with mysterious origins), Western Australia and parts of the Great Basin Desert in the southwestern United States.

Geographe Channel

The Geographe Channel is an arm of the Indian Ocean between Bernier Island and Dorre Island (to the west) and the mainland of Western Australia (to the east).

Grand Cinemas

The Movie Masters Cinema Group, Grand Cinemas is also a Cinema Chain, operating under parent company Movie Masters, in Western Australia.

Jirrawun Arts

It was notable as the base for major Indigenous Australian artists of the eastern Kimberley region, including Paddy Bedford and Freddie Timms.

Jon Stratton

Jonathon, or Jonathan, (Jon) Stratton is an Australian academic currently serving as Professor of Cultural Studies at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.

Joseph Parsons

Joseph Parsons (1876–1951) was a long-serving principal of Perth Modern School and an influential West Australian educator.

Lophocorona astiptica

It was described by Common in 1973, and is endemic to Western Australia.

Mertens' water monitor

The monitor is found in coastal and inland waters across much of northern Australia, from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, across the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Gulf Country, to the western side of the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland.

Municipality of Leichhardt

He later famously vanished without trace on his attempt to cross the continent from the Darling Downs to the Swan River Colony on the Western Australia coast.

Musk Duck

Musk Ducks are moderately common through the Murray-Darling and Cooper Creek basins, and in the wetter, fertile areas in the south of the continent: the southwest corner of Western Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.

MV True North

MV True North is an expedition yacht operating predominantly in Western Australia's north west.

Newbridge, Victoria

It is the birthplace of Arthur Wellesley Bayley who, with William Ford discovered the goldfields of Coolgardie in September 1892, Coolgardie being a town in the vicinity of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Ommatoiulus moreleti

Crushed millipedes may have caused a 2013 minor train crash in Clarkson, Western Australia.

Robert Zabica

Zabica represented the Australian national football team 28 times in 'A' international matches and also represented Western Australia.

Roland Hyatt

He took his first Sheffield Shield wicket against Western Australia, dismissing Greg Shipperd with a drifting ball.

Ronan's Escape

The film set in the rural wheat belt of Western Australia, provides a candid insight into the life of Ronan, a 14 year old boy who gets bullied at school and decides to make his escape.

Seletar Airport

The Singapore Flying College also conducts its flying training at Jandakot Airport in Perth, Western Australia and at Sunshine Coast Airport in Maroochydore, Queensland.

Sida clementii

The species was first formally described by Czech botanist Karel Domin in 1930 in Bibliotheca Botanica, from plant material collected by Emile Clement between the Ashburton and Yule Rivers.

Stylidium dunlopianum

S. dunlopianums distribution ranges from the Mitchell River area in Western Australia east to the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.

Thomas Road

Thomas Road is a major west-east road in the far southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting Rockingham Road (part of Highway 1) in Kwinana's industrial area with Kwinana's urban area, before bridging Perth's agricultural fringe to meet the South Western Highway in Byford, just south of Armadale.

Western Australian state election, 1986

The Labor government, led by Premier Brian Burke, won a second term in office against the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Bill Hassell since 16 February 1984.

Western Australian state election, 1989

The Labor government, led by Premier Peter Dowding, won a third term in office against the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Barry MacKinnon.

Western Australian state election, 1996

The LiberalNational coalition government, led by Premier Richard Court, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Dr Geoff Gallop since 15 October 1996.

White-browed Woodswallow

They are uncommon in Western Australia but small numbers regularly associate with flocks of the Masked Woodswallows.

William Nicholas Willis

On the appointment of a Royal Commission under William Owen to investigate the administration of the Lands Department in 1905, Willis fled to Western Australia and South Africa.

Wyndham, Western Australia

The construction efforts were interrupted by the Nevanas affair and World War I, but the meatworks were completed in 1919 to a design by William Hardwick who later became the Principal Architect of Western Australia.

Yampi Sound

During World War II, several raids were launched against the Japanese forces in Borneo and Java using Catalina Flying Boats by the RAAF from Cockatoo Island in Yampi Sound.

The Sound contains many islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago the largest being Koolan Island; others include: Cockatoo Island, Irvine Island, Bathurst Island, Finch Islands, Hidden Island, Baylis Islands and Iron Islands.